


In Any Universe

by moeblobmegane



Series: Soulmate AU [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Soulmate AU meets Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 22:50:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16027622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moeblobmegane/pseuds/moeblobmegane
Summary: WwOL!AU Haruka meets Canon!Rin. Haruka thinks it's a nightmare.





	In Any Universe

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of AU characters meeting with Canon characters, so I decided to play with this. Also, I feel like we all deserve to see a bit of HaruRin in this verse again, because s3’s episode one truly [Did That and gave me Soulmate AU feelings](http://moeblobmegane.tumblr.com/post/176095455558/im-crying-ive-ascended-this-is-literally-a-scene).
> 
> Largely unbeta'ed bec i have five million fics to write CANT STOP WONT STOP

Haruka can see Rin swimming in the pool alongside his new teammates. He recognizes most of them. After his numerous skype calls with Rin, he feels like he’s already met them. Some actually has, when they barged in one time Rin was making a skype call during their afternoon off. He likes them, he thinks. People who make Rin laugh like that are okay in Haruka’s books.

He stands up when Rin finishes swimming, walking towards the pool to greet his boyfriend.

But then he stops a few meters away.

Something is wrong.

Panic surges inside him when he realizes why he feels so weird, why he feels light in a horrible way, why he feels like he is floating without anyone anchoring him down to safety.

He runs forward just as Rin emerges from the pool. He offers a hand down and pulls him out, all the while looking him in the eyes.

 _Nothing_.

There’s nothing.

No _I missed you_ or _I can’t believe you’re here_ , not even a memory of them kissing under the cherry blossom tree. Haruka hears nothing, sees nothing, feels _nothing_.

He wants to throw up.

He wants to _cry_.

“H-haru?” Rin looks up at him with wide, surprised eyes. “What are you doing here?”

He doesn’t remember why he’s here, or how he even came here, but that is not important right now. It feels like a part of him is missing.

“Did you break the bond again?” Haruka asks, desperate like nothing else. He knows long-distance is hard, and he knows he is still not as good with talking during their calls, but that does not warrant this kind of reaction. Haruka is _trying_ , and Rin knows that. Rin appreciates that. He says so every time they talk. They’re both so afraid of missing something, of miscommunicating and ruining this beautiful thing between them.

Did Haruka do something to ruin it?

Why would Rin break their bond again? They promised never to give up. They promised each other _forever_.

“What bond?”

Rin’s words pierce through his thoughts.

“The soul bond.”

Rin looks both confused and worried. It’s comforting to know Haruka can still read his expressions, even when their telepathy is gone.

“Haru, I thought you were in Japan. Are you okay? Are you sick?”

Before he can answer, one of Rin’s teammates walk over to hand Rin his phone. “You’re as popular as ever,” he says. “That’s been vibrating all over the place since earlier.”

Rin thanks the guy while absentmindedly opening his screen to check on his messages. He still looks worried. It feels like he’s checking his phone more to give him time to think than anything.

“What the--”

He looks up with wide eyes.

“You aren’t Haru, are you?”

Haruka frowns. “I’m Haru,” he says. “Just because you broke the bond, it doesn’t--”

“I don’t know what that means!” Rin exclaims. “Haru’s still in Japan, in a training camp. Gou told me.”

Haruka stares at him. “You don’t know anything about a soul bond,” he clarifies, feeling numb all of a sudden. “You’re not my soulmate.” That explains a lot, even if it sounds ridiculous. This is not _his_ Rin. It makes more sense than his Rin breaking the bond for no reason. They've gone past that. His Rin would never inflict that kind of pain on him again.

“Soulmate?” Rin’s eyes are hilariously wide now. His cheeks tint pink. “What?”

“Makoto told me about this,” Haruka says, ignoring his reaction. “Visits to other universes…” He pauses and tries to remember what Makoto has told him from his Soulmate classes in college. Those has been unexpectedly helpful for everyone in their group. Makoto has turned into a Soulmate guru. “Oh. I’m asleep. This is a dream.”

Rin’s eyebrows furrow. “It doesn’t feel like a dream.”

“I’m dreaming,” Haruka says. “I’m not sure if you are.”

“What--” Rin looks like he wants to start a fight, but then he freezes, takes a deep breath, and exhales it all out to calm himself. “Let’s say I’m dreaming too. _Sure_. What do you mean other universes?”

“In my universe, soul bonds exist,” Haruka explains. “Soulmates share a bond that lets them read each other’s minds or feel each other’s feelings. Your version in my universe is my soulmate.”

Rin turns even redder. “You’re my--”

“Soulmates don’t exist here, so no.”

“But a version of me is-- You’re-- Does that mean--”

It doesn’t look like he’ll finish any of those thoughts any time soon. “Rin’s my boyfriend,” he says, to end his agony.

Though by the sound of it, this revelation only adds to it. Rin looks bewildered. His blushing face has turned worryingly red, down his neck and up to his ears. It doesn’t look like he’s breathing.

Because Haruka enjoys this more than he expected, he adds, “We’ll probably get married, when we graduate.”

Rin falls down dramatically, his butt hitting the tiled floor hard.

Haruka misses the bond like a missing limb, but at least this is amusing. This Rin looks younger, for some reason, like he hasn’t had five years of intense nightmares and bond pain. He must have experienced other things, but Haruka knows that this Rin hasn’t had the courage to confess to his own version of Haruka. It’s painfully obvious.

The soul bond made things hard for Haruka and Rin, but it also pushed them to acknowledge their feelings faster.

This Rin hasn’t had that help. He wonders if Rei and Nagisa are together in this universe. They were instrumental to Rin and Haruka getting together in their universe.

“Did Rei join the Swim Club here, too?” he asks.

“What?” Rin looks taken aback by the question, but he shakes himself and answers, “Yeah, to the Iwatobi Swim Club with you.”

Wait.

“With me? You’re not from Iwatobi?”

Oh, this universe suddenly became darker in Haruka’s eyes. A world where Rin didn’t come back to Iwatobi? Did he stay in Australia? That sounds like a nightmare. Is this a nightmare?

“...I studied at Samezuka,” Rin says. It looks like he’s adjusting to the situation. He’s always been good at going with the flow, once he’s relaxed. It’s one of the best things about him.

“Samezuka Academy? With Sousuke?” This really feels like a nightmare. “That means we never swam the relay together again?”

Rin blushes again, thought it’s only a light pink on his cheeks this time. “We, uh, did. We swam the relay together during our second year.”

“You were in Iwatobi?” Him transferring after they swam the relay again sounds bad. Did they fight? Did something happen? Haruka is suddenly invested in this Rin’s relationship with this world’s Haruka.

“No,” Rin says, so quiet it’s almost a whisper. “I was with Samezuka but I snuck in and swam with Iwatobi.”

Oh.

Oh, that’s even more romantic than anything Rin has ever done.

But also stupid. Wow. Why did Mikoshiba let that happen?

“This is a weird dream,” Rin says, when Haruka is silent for too long. “You’re chatty. It doesn’t feel like you.”

Haruka blinks. “I’m not chatty.”

“You’ve been talking a lot,” Rin points out.

“I’m…” He looks down, then away. “I was just worried. My Rin broke our bond once, and it wasn’t good.” He clears his throat. “And you’re not with your Haruka, so this world is worrying in another way.”

“I’m not--”

“You’re not in love with your Haruka?” This is truly the nightmare scenario.

Rin looks down, clenching his fists. “This is a dream?” He sounds timid, like a child.

“Yes.” He waits. When Rin doesn’t say anything, he adds, “I’m not your Haruka. You can tell me anything.”

“I’m…” Rin sighs, slumps down. “I’m in love with Haruka.” He makes it sound like a burden. He makes it sound like a sin.

“Is your Haruka not in love with you?” Haruka cannot imagine a universe where he’s not in love with Rin.

“I don’t know,” Rin says despairingly. “We’re too busy with our own things, and for now, swimming with him is enough. I just want to swim with him.”

Haruka wants to say something about that, about being _too busy_ , because he and Rin make time, and they will never be too busy for each other. But that might be because the bond lets them feel each other even across the ocean. When Haruka feels alone in Tokyo, he can close his eyes and reach inside him to feel Rin’s soul. It’s something this Rin doesn’t understand: the feeling of being so connected that nothing will drive you apart.

It must be so terrifying, living in a world without that.

“You should tell him that,” Haruka says. He can feel his limbs tingling. He’s probably about to wake up. “You should tell him you want to swim with him. I’m sure he’d be happy to hear that.” Hearing it from this Rin already made him happy, so this world’s Haruka will be ecstatic to hear it, he’s sure.

He feels himself fading.

Rin must realize it too, because he rushes to ask, “Do you really think you’ll get married?”

And because Haruka knows his Rin, knows how to say things to make him happy too, he says, “A spring wedding, under the cherry blossom trees.”

Rin _lights up_.

The last thing Haruka sees is Rin laughing in glee.

 

 

  

“-ru! Haru! Hey!”

Haruka wakes up slowly, opening his eyes to see Rin’s face right above him. He can hear worried questions and happy little observations. _Is he hurt? He was frowning. Is it hot? He looks good in this lighting. I wish that wasn’t a nightmare_. They’re naked in bed, and all Rin can think about is whether Haruka had a good night’s sleep.

Smiling, he raises his head to peck at Rin’s lips.

Rin blinks. “What’s with you?”

“Nothing,” Haruka says. He feels like he had a nice dream.

“What was the dream about?” Rin asks.

“I don’t remember,” Haruka says, though he knows Rin was smiling in the dream. He likes it when Rin is smiling in his dreams.

Rin blushes and collapses on Haruka’s chest. “Stop being romantic so early in the morning,” Rin complains, clearly embarrassed. “It’s out of character.”

“Then stop reading my thoughts.”

Rin sighs and slots his head on Haruka’s neck. “This is nice. Let’s just sleep.”

“Mmm,” Haruka says, closing his eyes. He feels Rin dozing off. With their pleasant feelings bouncing on each other, they both fall back to sleep.

 

 

* * *

 

 

(Meanwhile, Rin wakes up with his heart pounding, his eyes wet from tears. It wasn’t a nightmare, he is sure. He’s crying tears of joy for some reason. He doesn’t remember anything but he can hear a pleasant voice telling him to do something. He feels energized for the day.

 

A week later, he meets Haruka and says “The one thing that hasn’t changed is that I still want to swim with you.”

It feels right to say it out loud.)

**Author's Note:**

> WwOL was my season 1 offering, 404 was my season 2 offering, so it’s tradition by now, right? I’ll start posting _Through the Haze: The AsaKisu Story_ when s3 ends :)


End file.
